Butch Comegys / Staff Photographer
West Scranton High School freshman golfer Paul McNally, 15, smiles as he walks with his clubs to the next hole during a recent match against North Pocono. McNally has Asperger's syndrome.

Butch Comegys / Staff Photographer
West Scranton High School freshman Paul McNally, 15, follows through on his tee shot against North Pocono.

To a parent, Asperger's syndrome is a two-word nightmare, a diagnosis of a neurological disorder on the autism spectrum, one that will interfere with their child's normal development in many areas.

In all likelihood, their child will not play sports, never wear a uniform bearing their school's colors or name, never have the opportunity to make a mom cry on Parent's Day.

One West Scranton teenager is doing what he can to tear down those barriers.

Fifteen-year-old Paul McNally struggles with Asperger's, but high school golf has opened a door that otherwise might have been closed.

The freshman not only made the golf team, he was a starter for the Invaders and won a match this year. All pretty amazing stuff from a kid who three years ago had never played a hole.

"I think that was cool starting from scratch and three seasons later, I'm a starter," said McNally. "Lots of my family likes golf. I'm pretty stuck."

In the process, his social skills, and athletic ability, have begun to show themselves in ways his parents hadn't seen before.

A social setting, one out of the normal routine, can be paralyzing to someone with Asperger's. But after a season on the golf team, even that is changing.

"A year ago we were walking his dog up at St. Ann's Monastery," his mother, Anne said. "There were a bunch of kids there he knew and he wanted to avoid them.

"Fast forward one year, it's a world of difference and I asked him, 'Is it easier, Paul?'" Anne said. "He's like a different kid."

He's no Tiger Woods, but when it comes to golf, McNally has the eye of the tiger.

He is focused. Very focused. If there is one plus from his diagnosis - Asperger's can spark interest in areas that may border on obsessive - it has helped Paul understand the mechanics of the swing and adapt what he's learned quickly.

"Honestly, he's one of my best students in that sense," said Corey McAlarney, head professional at A Swing for Life Golf Academy. "I can tell him something, he can do it. I can show him something, he can do it. I can get in there, put him in positions we are working on and he can repeat it.

"He learns in all different ways, which is pretty amazing. He is, in some ways, easy to teach."

That McNally plays golf is a gift from his uncle, Gene "Cisco" O'Hora, who gave him a set of clubs and eventually showed him how to swing.

But that was all he really knew until three years ago when he asked his parents if he could start taking lessons.

"When I first got him, I didn't know what to expect," McAlarney said. "I just kind of took him as I'd teach anybody else, and he took everything I said and ran with it.

"It was learning what a birdie is, what a par is, how to tee it up between the tee markers; it was completely from scratch."

In many ways, that is McNally's life. Clearly, his ability to discuss local politics and the workings of the golf swing show that he, like most Asperger's kids, has average to above average intelligence.

But those with Asperger's may not have the physical coordination of their age-group peers or understand certain fundamentals, like setting goals.

"I don't even think he knew how to set any golf goals so I had to set them for him," McAlarney said. "One of them was to play for the high school team. About a month, he achieved that, which is pretty amazing. Not only that, but a starting spot, which was beyond my expectations."

It was a moment that brought both the instructor and Paul's mother to tears.

"It was shocking when at some point last year during the summer that Corey told me Paul was their student of the month at the golf academy," Anne said. "I thought maybe it was because Corey loves Paul. When I talked to Corey, it was clear he was really good."

Of course, Anne admits she wouldn't know a good swing from a bad one. But McNally does.

"I just want to keep getting better," McNally said. "My driving still needs to be worked on, but they don't slice way right like they used to go."

What McNally's parents have learned is that what others perceive as a disability may just be an opportunity.

"He's impressing me," Paul Sr. said. "When he was smaller, I never thought he'd be able to do what he does now.

"I learned more from him than I've ever taught him, I think. His whole attitude about life, he's just happy go lucky. He's always said what he felt. There it was. For better or for worse, there it is. It keeps you honest, if nothing else."

Neither Paul Sr. nor Anne play golf, so to suddenly have a golfer in the family was just another eye-opener in what's been 15 years of surprises.

"Since we knew something was amiss, so to speak, we didn't know what to expect because we got everything from, 'He'll never talk to anybody' to 'He'll outgrow it,' " Paul Sr. said. "We just played it day to day because it's one of those things, no one has any answers or what causes it or how to treat it.

"My wife's family, she's the youngest of nine, he's just been inundated from day one. He never got any special treatment. Just one of the kids. I think that's a big part of him coming along as far as he did."

Especially when it comes to socializing to be part of West's golf team.

"Golfers are so kind-hearted," Anne said. "Not only his teammates, but his competitors, too."

As West Scranton golf coach Jerry Skotleski discovered, they have often gone out of their way to make McNally feel at ease.

"What was fun was watching the other schools play with Paul," Skotleski said. "He had some great matches, played some wonderful matches and opponents were rooting for him, too. Who couldn't root for him?

"They were cheering him on. 'Good shot. Don't worry about that one.' Having Paul on the team was wonderful. He was a great inspiration to our players. They rallied around him. They worked with him."

Especially Sam Olecki, who was McNally's playing partner.

Olecki and McNally were part of the second group against Riverside, and the Vikings had already taken three of the five points needed to win a match in the first foursome.

"Sam won his match on No. 16 and I told Sam he needed to point Paul in the right direction," Skotleski said. "Paul won No. 17, hit it from 90 yards out on No. 18 and stuck it to 6 feet. He missed the putt but won the hole.

"I told him if it wasn't for you and Sam, the match would be over."

McNally won. So did West.

They aren't all wins. Like every golfer, he has weaknesses in his game.

Unlike other golfers, there are immeasurable improvements in other areas of weakness.

"I'm thrilled, I'm relieved, I'm hopeful and so proud of him," Anne said. "He also has a whole bunch of golfers in his life, people who have gone golfing with him and have this huge following. He beat his guy in the one match and the next day there were six newspapers on our front door and two on the back door.

"It's just pretty cool."

Recently, McNally made a birdie on the par-4 third hole at Pine Hills Country Club, West Scranton's home course.

"He's inspired a lot of the other teams playing against him," Skotleski said. "I'm so glad he's only a freshman and even happier I'm the coach.

"The fact I get to coach him the next three years, I can't wait for next August."

Contact the writer: mmyers@timesshamrock.com

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